The Story of the Lost 152nd Attack Battalion
by CC-7267
Summary: This is the story of the Surviving members of the 152nd Attack Battalion. It follows a group of Clone Troopers, Naval Officers, and captured battle droids as they try to survive on an uncharted system with no hope for rescue. Each Chapter follows a different trooper's view point. I do not own Star Wars or any of it's characters.
1. Chapter 1: Enroute to the Fleet

"Alright men gather round!" We heard Corporal Snoops yelling from down the hall. Dogbreath, Greene, and I formed up with the rest of the squad, as the Corporal started rambling off about our next deployment. Ever since our squad was formed, he has always been the type to want to get into the fight and bore the enemy to death with procedures and regulations. Dogbreath, on the other hand was the complete opposite. He believed his reason for existing was to break rules faster than Snoops could make them. Greene was always the quiet type. He's somehow a little different from the rest of us. The Commanders have asked him dozens of times if he'd like to go to the ARC troopers, but every time he turns them down and stays with us. I cant figure him out. Now as for me, I'm CC-7250, otherwise known as "Eddie". We've fought in a total of 3 major battles since we left Kamino a couple of months ago. We're all still pretty new, and we've lost a good portion of our original battalion. Currently we're on route back to a staging area somewhere in the outer rim to bring on more troops before deploying.

"EDDIE!" I hear Snoops yelling at me, and I snap back into reality. "Yes sir?" I ask, his face inches from mine. "STOP DAYDREAMING AND PAY ATTENTION!" He yells again. "Yes sir." I say, and Snoops goes back to rambling on. As he walks back down the line, something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye. Outside the porthole, I can see us traveling in hyperspace, But somethings off about it. Just as I'm about to say something to the Corporal, the entire ship starts to shake and maneuver violently as we are seemingly ripped out of hyperspace.

After regaining our balance we all rush over and look out to see a droid fleet firing on us. "ALL HANDS BATTLE STATIONS" the PA Blasts above us, as we rush down the hall to our assigned area. Our cruiser virtually defenseless as the droid fleet quickly destroy the frigates that where escorting us to the staging area. After about five minutes of being bombarded by the enemy, another message over the PA "ALL HANDS, ABANDON SHIP". We where nowhere near the escape pods, so our best bet for evac was one of the gunships. We made a mad dash for the hanger, finding Captain Smith, and Sergeant Barqs already loading into a gunship, quickly hoping aboard and making our escape just as the ship started to implode and crash down to the surface below.

We made it all the way to the inner atmosphere of the planet before getting intercepted by a Vulture Droid. The pilots tried to outmaneuver the droid, but it took out one of the wings and we plummeted to the ground below. After crashing I stumbled out of the gunship, as I looked apon the burning wreckage of the cruiser we where just on not 15 minutes ago traveling thru hyperspace. As I stood there I heard a voice from behind me "Well, I never did like that cruiser anyway." Captain Smith said chuckling, then taking off his helmet and looking at me. "Looks like we're gonna be here a while Eddie" he said, before turning back to the gunship "Come on, lets see if anyone else made it before we go scope out the cruiser"


	2. Chapter 2: Gathering the Troops

"Come on, lets see if anyone else made it before we go scope out the cruiser." I said to Eddie, as I walked back over to the gunship and climbed up to the canopy of the cockpit. As I climbed up, I could already tell that the Pilot was dead, so I moved on to the copilot who seemed to be moving some. I used the butt of my blaster to break thru the shattered canopy and cleared out the glass. As I reached in to pull the copilot out, Eddie was trying to pry the blast door open more so that we could get in and out easier. I managed to get the copilot out and propped him up against a rock. By this point the Adrenaline had worn of and I was starting to feel the broken ribs rubbing against the body glove. None the less, I had to help Eddie.

After I set the pilot down and went over to Eddie. The two of us managed to get the blast door open. When we left the crusier, we had around 18 Troopers on the ship, including the Pilots. Now we where down to 14 Troopers, of which only 8 of us where alive. The other 4 had been sucked out the rear hatch of the ship on impact. We got the survivors out of the ship and placed them with the pilot. I had Eddie tend to the wounded while I removed the dead from the ship and brought them over to a spot on the opposite side of the ship. Using broken parts torn off from the gunship, Eddie, Dogbreath, and myself dug graves for our fallen brothers. While we dug the graves, Greene and Snoops removed the armor from the fallen and brought it back over to the pilot. We burred them, holding a small service for them before we did anything else.

After burring the dead, we returned to the ship and took inventory of what we had. In total we had: Five Spare sets of Phase I armor, One Spare set of Phase I Pilot Armor, One pair of macrobinoculars, Five DC-15A Blaster Rifles, Thirteen DC-15S Blaster Carbines, Four DC-17 Blaster Pistols, Twenty Eight Thermal Detonators, Ten Grappling Hooks, about 3 weeks worth of Field Rations, Fifty Four spare ammo magazines, Five Basic First Aid Kits, and a few personal items. "So what do we do now Captain?" Dogbreath asks. "Gather up the supplies and lets get down to the cruiser and see if we can find any survivors." I say, knowing full well that there wouldn't be anyone left.

As we walked thru the jungle, I assigned Snoops to mark the path from the gunship to the cruiser so we could find our way back in the event we needed to fall back to a position or needed to return there for some other reason. After about an hour and a half of walking we reached the clearing behind the cruiser made when it crashed into the surface. We had about two hours left until sunset so we continued on to the wreckage. Setting up camp beneath one of the wings, I divided up the field rations and we ate. After chow, I assigned Barqs, and Hanis to do the first watch, with Dogbreath and Snoops as the Second watch.

The next morning, I relieved Dogbreath and Snoops and we had morning chow. During chow, I laid out the game plan for the day "Here's what we're going to do today. Eddie, and Greene will go to the bow of the ship, Dogbreath and Hanis to the stern. Once there you will do a systematic search of the ship until you meet in the middle. In that search you'll be looking for any survivors, along with anything you think might be useful. If you find anyone or anything bring it back here. If its something you cant carry out with just the two of you, mark it with something, or remember where it is. Snoops and Barqs, you will accompany me to the bridge, and you will work your way down doing the same. If you encounter any resistance, or if you feel that you need to attack something, don't shoot unless fired apon. Remember we have limited rations. Now go to your assigned locations."


	3. Chapter 3: From the Bow

"Yes Sir!" We collectively said, before splitting up and going to our assigned stations. As Eddie and I approached the hatch, we flipped on our helmet lights and slowly made our way in. As we walked, Eddie asked me "Hey Greene, you think we're actually gonna find anything?" I turned to him and said "Of course not, but its better to KNOW there's nobody in here, rather than not know, and have a brother die due to our laziness." He looks down "Yeah I guess your right, now come on." As we approached the bow we began our search, along the way we found a few dead crew members, and some medical supplies. As we approached the end of the hall we came across a room that was locked and sealed. We tired knocking on the door, and prying it open. We even tried getting the Captain to let us shoot it open, to which he said no cause we need to ration our ammo.

After staring at area around the door, I saw a vent grate that went straight thru to the room. Using this I looked thru, and inside was the cargo hold of the ship. "Eddie, you wont believe this!" I said hopping down, and taking off my helmet. "What is it?" he asks, taking off his helmet as well. "Its the cargo hold, and it appears that it received no damaged during the crash!" I say, quickly putting on my helmet "Captain, we need you down here. We found the cargo hold, and it appears everything is still inside and intact." I say as I hear Dogbreath and Hanis rounding the corner running towards us. "We've Got Clankers!" They say jumping behind a couple of crates on the opposite side of the hall.

Eddie and I ducked behind some of the metal coming off of the ceiling above us as the droid unit approached. It was just a patrol that had come to investigate the crash, but we didn't know that at the time. Deciding to not waist ammo we waited for the patrol to pass us before jumping up from behind and jumping the rear of the patrol. We ripped the heads off the rear two droids, using their weapons to take out the rest of the patrol. Just as we where finishing moping up the patrol, the Captain showed up with Barqs and Snoops.

Eddie and I re pitched the shoot the door open idea, which the captain allowed us to do using the droid weapons. After blasting the door open, we went inside. In the hold there where enough supplies to keep the whole battalion supplied for at least Six months, and with only eight of us, the food rations would last at least Three years, and the other supplies for at least Ten. The Captain gathered us up again and said "Now I have good news and bad news. The good news is we got a lot more supplies now so we should be able to hold out for a while, and as for the bad news. Well we will put the supplies to good use seeing as the Republic doesn't know where we are, and are likely not coming. Now don't let that discourage you, we're going to survive." He said firmly. "Now, lets get to work on securing a more permanent base camp. Dogbreath and Hanis, return to your sweep of the stern. Greene and Eddie, go to maintenance and get some tools, then work on removing bunks from the barracks and bringing them outside. Snoops, you start bringing the equipment outside to the camp. And Barqs, accompany me back to the bridge so we can reattempt sending a distress signal"


	4. Chapter 4: On the Bridge

As Smith and I made our way up to the bridge, I took a moment to take in all the surroundings. Dead troopers lay everywhere, some seaming to be frozen in time while they tried to make their escape. My best guess is that of our entire battalion, that we where the only ones to make it to the surface alive. Some may still be stuck up in pods up with the crew that could escape in time.  
"Hey Barqs, you alright?" Smith asks me as we reach the blast door leading into the war room. "Oh, yeah im alright. Just thinking about how many men we lost." I said, helping smith pry open the blast door. When we got inside the war room, things didnt seem too bad. I mean sure, there where some broken screens, and the holoprojector was fried but it seemed like normal combat damage. When we got into the bridge however, it told a completely different story. Sometime between the abandon ship was called, and its landing, the bridge had had a violent decompression and sucked almost everyone out of the bridge.

"Holy Crap" is the only thing I could muster to say. "Agreed." Smith says. We split up and start searching the bridge for any signs of life or anything useful. After searching the bridge, we returned to the war room to try to turn on the distress beacon. We turned on the terminal that was connected to the distress beacon and nothing happened. We tried a few more times till we determined that the beacon must have been destroyed in the crash. "Well we could try looking for a working transport?" I suggest. "I doubt that any of them will still work, but its worth a shot" Smith says "Shall we?"

As we make our way down to the hanger, we run into Dogbreath. "Nothing to report so far sir" he said before heading into one of the barracks rooms. We make our way down the hall and enter the hanger. We split up again, and searched the entire hanger and only found one working star ship, but it had almost no fuel. We also found a working AT-TE which we brought out to our encampment.

Later that night at chow, we discussed our plans for the walker. "Now we're gonna take parts from the ship and attach them to the walker, making it more of a living quarters then a troup transport." Smith said. "Well we could take parts from some of the other wrecked vehicles in the hanger and make it a bigger platform?" I suggested. Hanis then suggested "Building on that Idea, we could take one of the other walkers in there and use its base as part of the shelter?" We then took a vote, and decided to go with the idea that Hanis suggested.


	5. Chapter 5: Building a Base

The next morning, we woke up and had chow. What seemed to be becoming a normal ritual, was the morning briefing during chow. Today's tasks where to get a second walker out of the hanger, then start collecting materials to build the new base. Now i've piloted the AT-TE about 5 times in my career so far, and they aren't exactly my speed. That's why I stuck with the gunships. But all the same, I was the lucky one with the experience so I get to pilot them. Now the only trouble was, getting to them.

Even before we came crashing down to this god forsaken planet, the walkers where kept in the forward hold of the hanger, with magnetic locks holding them in. This was going to prove quite a challenge compared to the first one, which already had it's magnetic locks disengaged. "Well Greene, any idea on how we are gonna get the locks turned off without causing the rest of the walkers to come crashing down on us?" I asked, pulling off my helmet and taking a seat on a crate near the wall. "Haven't the foggiest idea" He said, coming over and joining me.

As we sat there thinking about what to do, Dogbreath slowly passed us, dragging a battle droid behind him. "Morning" he said, as he walked towards the open end of the hanger that lead to a fifty foot drop. Greene and I look at each other, then towards Dogbreath. "Morning...whatcha doing there Dogbreath?" I ask standing up and walking over to him. "Just taking care of this clanker" he said, pulling the gun from the droid's pack before chucking him over the side. "Ah alright, well did you just knock him out or...?" I ask looking at him. "Oh no this is one from yesterday. The Captain wanted the hall cleaned out so that we wouldn't be tripping over them." He said before walking towards the door "Ah makes sense" I say looking at the walkers again. "We're never gonna get these out of here are we?" I ask Greene. "Well we could just get into the tank and then unlock all of them, at least we wouldn't be crushed." He said, picking up our helmets, and tossing mine to me. "Sure sounds like a plan."

While I climbed into the pilot's seat, Greene radioed everyone else and told them to stay clear. "Well here goes nothing." I said, as I turned off the magnetic locks. I don't remember what happened next, but I woke up to Snoops and Eddie banging on the glass of the walker, and I was clearly upside down. All I could think to say was "Well...this sucks."


	6. Chapter 6: Dealing with Problem

Eddie and I were working in the cargo hold when we heard Greene come over the radio and say "Stay clear of the hanger, we're going to get the walker out." I shrugged it off, and was just about to go back to work when there was a huge crashing sound down the hall. Eddie and I grabbed our blasters and helmets and ran towards the sound. The sound lead us to the hanger, or what used to be the hanger. When we got inside, we made our way thru the smoke and dust to find the walkers had all came out of their positions and slid down. The walkers where in a mangled heap at the bottom of the incline, and I could make out the faint outline of a set of armor in one of the cockpits.

I looked over at Eddie and shouted "Over here, in the cockpit!" We rushed over and saw that it was Hanis. After banging on the glass for a minute or so, he came round. After getting him out, we made our way into the walker and found Greene in the troop compartment of the walker. We dragged him out, just as Smith, Barqs, and Dogbreath made their entrance into the hanger. "What the Hell happened here?!" Smith was shouting as they ran over. Hanis spoke up saying "We tried getting the walker out by disengaging the magnetic locks. We thought since we were in the tank we'd be fine. Guess not huh?" He said with a small chuckle, with Smith not finding the humor in it. "Where's Greene?" he asked as we made our exit from the walker "He's here, but he doesn't look to good. Have we gotten access to the medical bay or are we still locked out of it?" I asked, carrying him over to a crate and resting him there.

"No we're still locked out of it, but One of the battle droids we blasted earlier when we were clearing the ship appeared to have Medic markings on him, and he was unarmed. Maybe we can get Hanis to reprogram him, and we can use him as a medic?" Barqs suggested. Smith looked at him and said "Make it quick." He then sat down with Greene and removed both of their helmets. As he did the both Barqs and Hanis ran out of the hanger in search of the Medic Droid. "Now Snoops and Eddie, get back to work in the cargo hold. Dogbreath you go up to the supply room up the hall and fetch a stretcher, we'll move him out to the camp." We all Said "Yes Sir, and went to our assigned locations.

As Eddie and I returned to the cargo hold, we were passing a room that had not been searched due to the firefight earlier. We opened the door, and it turned out to be an Armory room. "Now we're talking." Eddie said, walking into the room and looking around. As he looked around, I radioed Smith "Hey Smith, Eddie and I found one of the Armories, fully stocked." "Good, mark it and continue on to the cargo hold, let's get all the supplies out first, then we'll get the weapons once we got a secure place to put them." Smith replied. "Yes sir" I said before turning to Eddie and saying "Come on, we've got to finish the cargo hold before we get to these." With a little protest, Eddie came along with me to the cargo hold.


	7. Chapter 7: New Suvivors

"..Dogbreath you go up to the supply room up the hall and fetch a stretcher, we'll move him out to the camp." We all Said "Yes Sir, and went Our separate ways. I ran to the first supply room I could find and made my way in, quickly grabbing a stretcher and running back to the Captain. "Here you are sir" I said setting it up so we could get Greene on easily. After getting Greene on, the Captain and I brought Greene out to the camp outside. "Dogbreath, take care of him while we wait for Hanis and Barqs to come back with the droid." "Yes sir." I said, as Smith returned to the ship.

As Smith walked away, I administered the Bacta from my medkit, and kept an eye on him. After about a half hour, Barqs and Hanis joined us with a battle droid. "Alright droid, fix him" Barqs said, Blaster trained on the droid. After the droid started working on him, Hanis and I each grabbed our blasters and took up positions around the droid. After a few minutes, the droid said "He should be stable now, he needs rest though." "Hanis, Dogbreath, get Greene in the walker" Barqs said, while we picked up the stretcher and brought Greene inside to his bunk. "Come on droid lets go" Barqs said, leading the droid back to the cruiser.

After getting Greene inside and secure, Hanis and I went outside. I radioed the Captain that Greene was stable and secure, to which he said "Good, now Hanis is on guard duty. Dogbreath you go try to gain access to the medical bay. Report back to me if you need assistance." I said "Yes sir!", then told Hanis to stay on guard duty, then made my way back into the ship. On my way up to the medical bay, I made a quick stop in the droid maintenance room, and found Barqs putting a restraining bolt on the medical droid. He also appeared to have a few other captured battle droids laying in a pile off to the side. I just grabbed a crowbar and started back towards the medical bay.

When I got to the medical bay, I tried opening the door with the control panel, which was obviously fried. I took off my helmet and sat it down, before placing the crowbar in the door slot and pried it open. Inside, much to my surprise, was two Naval Officer clones, and a Clone Trooper Medic. Still alive! I thought to myself "Oh shit!", before running over to check them to see if they were okay. After finding out they were still alive, I ran back out and put my helmet back on "Captain, Sergeant you guys better come to the medical bay quick! I found three survivors!" A collective "WHAT!?" was all I heard on the radio, followed by the Captain saying "On my way." And Barqs asking "Do we need the medic clanker there?" I said to Barqs "Wouldn't hurt to bring him, but we already have a medical officer here."

Within a minute both the Captain and the Sergeant where there with me helping the survivors out of the medical bay and out to the walker. As we approached the walker, we could see that our whole crew was there waiting to greet the survivors. We pretty much called it a day there, and had our evening chow and debriefing. Captain Smith started off the meeting by suggesting we all take turns and formally introduce ourselves. We each took turns introducing ourselves then the new members of our group took their turns. The first was Naval Officer Spade. He was the lieutenant in charge of Navigation. Next was Naval Officer Stull. He was a Lieutenant in charge of weapons systems. And last but not least was Clone Trooper Medic Vargas. He was a medic in our battalion, who had received some wounds while treating clones during our last battle. "Well now that we're all acquainted with each other, lights out in 30. Dogbreath and Barqs take the first watch, Eddie and I will take the Second watch. Lets get some shut eye." Captain smith said and we all said "Yes Sir!"


	8. Chapter 8: Reforming the 152nd

It's been a week since the cruiser got shot down. Stull, Vargas, and I have been able to work our way into the group, with Stull and Myself being asked by Captain Smith to take command positions in the new 152nd attack battalion. We were even given some armor recovered from the cruiser, and personalized it a bit so we didn't look as shiny as we actually are. I was assigned the job of being the battalion's new Executive officer, and Stull assigned to being the Weapons Officer. Sergeant Barqs took third in command as the ranking NCO. And Corporal Snoops was assigned to be the First Squad Leader. Vargas stayed the battalion's Medic, with assistance from "Doc" the Medic Battle droid that Sergeant Barqs reprogrammed. As for Dogbreath, Greene, Eddie, and Hanis, they made up First Squad. Also in first squad was "Sparky" the Mechanic Battle Droid, along with "Stumpy" the Damaged Battle Droid.

This morning during our morning briefing and chow, Captain Smith announced that it was time to go on a combat patrol. "With assistance from Sergeant Barqs, we were able to extract some of the data from one of the disabled battle droids from the last attack. In that data, was partial coordinates of the droid's base. With that information, we are going to search that general area until the base is located." Corporal Snoops spoke up and asked "Who all is going to be assigned to the patrol?" I turned to Corporal Snoops and said "Well, we were planning on doing a small team, maybe 4 or 5. They shouldn't come into contact with the base, since this is just a recon mission, and-" Captain Smith cut me off there to say "Which brings us to the next thing. Weapons. We can't bring in the heavy artillery on this one, not yet anyway. I was thinking a few blaster rifles, and maybe a Chaingun. Can we spare that Stull?" He asked, and Stull nodded "Yes sir I'm sure we can do that." "Well good, we'll set out in about an hour. I'm going to need Greene, Dogbreath, Barqs, and Stull to get loaded up and ready to go. Spade, I need you, Snoops, Vargas, Eddie, and Hanis to get your weapons and set up defensive posts around the camp and cruiser, in case we bring back company. Spade I want you stationed on the bridge monitoring coms, as well as monitoring the surroundings. While you're up there, I want you to send out our daily distress broadcast, then monitor radio traffic. Alright let's get ready to go gentlemen. Barqs with me." He said as he started towards the cruiser. We all saluted, then finished our chow.

I took my allotted free time to get into my armor then head up to the armory. When I arrived, Stull was already there with Sergeant Barqs, working on deciding on what weapons to bring along with them on the Patrol. "Well we already know we're bringing the Chaingun. I would suggest instead of the Carbines, we go with the long barrel rifles for added range." Stull said, and Barqs nodded "I agree, with an element as small as ours, its best to put as much range between us and them." As they went on gathering their supplies, I started grabbing the weapons I needed for my portion of the mission. As I was finishing up Snoops, Vargas, Eddie, and Hanis came up the hall, and I gave them each a carbine. I turned to Snoops and said "We'll set up in a modified night patrol path. We'll split the two patrol paths into four segments, with you and Eddie on the far side of the cruiser, and Hanis and Vargas on this side of the cruiser. We'll keep coms on channel two since the patrol will be on channel one." "Sounds good. I'll have them start deploying now." Snoops said as he turned and started for the group down the hall. I grabbed one of the Long Barrel rifles and made my way for Captain Smiths Quarters.

When I reached His quarters, I knocked on the door and he said "Come in." I walked in and said "I had Snoops start deploying the security patrol. And Barqs and Stull are finishing up in the armory." "Very good, what radio channel are you guys using?" Smith asks. "Channel two sir, since I figured you'd being using channel one for the patrol. I'll keep your guy's channel open on the communications station in the bridge and the security patrol's channel on my helmet's comlink." "Sounds like a plan. This should go off without a hitch, but remember this. You're Second in command now, so if something where to happen you'd have to step up and take the reins. Think you're ready for that?" He asked, catching me a little off guard "Well of course I would be, but to be honest im still trying to get the hang of being in the combat zone, instead of up on the cruiser." He laughed and said "To be honest with you, I was still working on getting my sea legs when you navy guys decided to scuttle the ship." We both laughed and he started out of his quarters, patting me on the back and saying "Alright, We're heading out now. Good luck to you." "And same to you, happy hunting" I reply as he walked out and started towards the armory.

~~Authors Note: Hey! Can you guys let me know of what you think of the story so far? And anything you think I should add, get rid of, or change in any way. That would be a MAJOR help! Thanks! ~~


	9. Chapter 9: Combat Patrol

**Stull's POV:**

After getting our weapons we set out on our patrol. We started going east, towards the general direction of where the battle droids came from. Personally I was pretty excited, this being the first time since training that I've been involved directly in a combat mission. "Alright, we know that droids base is within a 1 mile radius of this general area" Smith said as we continued walking "so stay alert. Set up a defensive perimeter around Stull if we come under fire. The rules of engagement are do not fire unless fired upon. Also conserve your ammo as best you can. Stull make sure you fire in bursts." "Yes sir." We said collectively.

We continued walking for about twenty minutes before Barqs signaled to stop and get down. We all crouched down, and Smith duck walked up to Barqs "What did you see?" He asked looking thru his microbinoculars. "Droid Patrol, Three o'clock." Barqs said "We must be getting close." Smith turned back and said "Keep it tight, weapons locked." then signaled us to start moving again. We walked for another five minutes before coming to a ridge overlooking a CIS Forward Operating Base. Greene Set up his rifle for over watch and Captain Smith started looking down on the base. The rest of us took up defensive positions. "The base appears to be pretty run down.." Dogbreath said, looking thru the scope of his rifle. "Agreed, though the droids are still operational, so either they've been reprogramed, or there is a CIS control ship up there." Smith said. "Should we send a recon team in?" Barqs asked, looking over to Smith. "I agree, but we need to make it quick. Stull, switch weapons with me, then head down there with Dogbreath. Do a quick recon, then report back." I nodded at him, switching my Chaingun with his rifle, and headed down the ridge to the outpost. As we were making our way down, Dogbreath said "Ya know, I never got why we were issued white armor. I mean we stick out like sore thumbs in like 95% of the environments we fight in. They provide no camo whatsoever." I laughed a little then said "Agreed, but let's continue this conversation when we aren't walking into a clanker base." As I finished that sentence we reached the wall of the outpost.

We headed towards the closest opening in the wall. When we reached what appeared to be a gun nest opening, I looked in. Inside it appeared to be empty, except for a few droids walking around. "Let's get a better look." We worked our way around to a broken section of the wall. Inside it appeared to be a bunk room of some sort. I looked at Dogbreath and said "Hold here for a second, but be ready to blast'em." Dogbreath nodded and made my way into the bunk room. I flicked on my helmet light and did a quick scan of the room. I made my way over to the door, and cracked it open. Thru the crack in the door I saw two figures in Phase I armor talking to one of the droids. Upon seeing this, I quickly retreated back to where Dogbreath was and said "Shit there's clones in there talking with the droids." Dogbreath said "You sure? Sure it wasn't Droids in our armor?" He asked. I shook my head and said "I don't know, but we have to tell Smith." I then called Captain Smith on the comlink "Sir, there's at least two contacts in the base wearing our armor. How do you want us to proceed?" Smith then replied "Wait there we're coming down."

Barqs and Smith came down the ridge and met us near the gun nest opening. Barqs asked "Are you positive you saw Clones in there?" Again I shook my head and said "Not sure, But there is definitely at least contacts wearing phase I armor in there." Smith took a moment and said "We're going to surround them from all sides, with Greene covering us from above. Greene your weapons free as soon as we get into the base, but don't fire unless we start taking fire. Everyone, the rules of engagement have changed as such: Don't shoot unless fired upon. If we take fire, avoid killing the contacts our armor. Aim for extremities on them." He then called back to Spade "Spade its Smith, We're going to make contact with the base. There is a possibility of at least two friendlies in the base. I'll make contact as soon as we're in." Spade replied with a "Confirmed sir, we can be at your location in 20 minutes if you need us for support." Smith said "Roger that, but that will be unnecessary." He then turned to us and said "Alright, I'll take the front, Barqs take the left side, Dogbreath take the right side, and Stull take the rear with the Chaingun." He said handing me back my Chaingun and we all said "Yes sir!" "Alright Lets do this." He said and we all went to our assigned posts. "One, Two, Thee, Go!"


	10. Chapter 10: Raiding the Outpost

**Smith's POV:**

"One, Two, Three, GO!" I shouted and we all converged on the droid outpost. As I entered the front gate, I raised my weapon and Yelled "Hey Clankers!" As I yelled this, Stull, Barqs, and Dogbreath made their entrances. All of the droids looked at me and panicked, running in every direction, and the two figures in the rear wearing the armor raised their arms and yelled at the droids to shut up and stop where they were. The droids all complied and one of the figures approached me, grasping a blaster carbine in one hand. The armor looked like it had been to hell and back twice. As he approached I said to him "Identify yourself!" As he approached, I examined his armor even more. It appeared to bear the marks of the 2nd Recon Battalion.

He stopped just before me and said "I'm Sergeant Palmer, CC-1150, 2nd Recon Battalion. My counterparts here are Ordinance Trooper Barlax CC-1135, 2nd Recon Battalion, and an Engineer Trooper, of the 152nd Attack battalion." I was naturally skeptical and said "Remove your helmets." Palmer Laughed and pulled off his helmet "See, same as you." I lowered my weapon, as did Stull, Barqs, and Dogbreath. "Sorry about that. Captain Smith, CC-7267, 152nd Attack Battalion" I said taking off my helmet and putting out my hand. "No worries Captain, I would have done the same thing if I were put into the same situation." Palmer said, putting out his hand as well and shaking mine. "I have your trooper in my medical bay. Barlax and I found him in an escape pod not too far from here. Hes been out cold since we brought him here." I nod, calling Barqs over and saying "Get Greene to come down here." He nodded and walked off and I turned back to Palmer. "Say Sergeant, Is this the only droid base in the area?" He shrugged and said "Well as far as I know it is. The only other things we've found from the war, have been your trooper's escape pod, and your demolished cruiser."

"Oh that reminds me, I apologize about the droids we turned into scrap when we first got here. We're pretty fresh off the line, and assumed they were normal battle droids." I say, to which palmer laughs and turns around and points at the two platoons of droids behind him. "No worries, I've got plenty more where they came from." I called everyone over "Sergeant, this is Lieutenant Stull, Sergeant Barqs, Trooper Dogbreath, and Trooper Green." Palmer Introduced himself, as well as Barlax. After getting acquainted, I put my helmet back on and called Spade "Hey Spade its Smith again. The base is friendly, we have three clones here. I need Vargas to prep the medical bay, we recovered Redeye and he's wounded." He said "Yes sir, right away." I pulled my helmet back off and turned back to the group and said to Palmer "Sergeant, would you like to come back to the cruiser with us? We've got plenty of room, and rations for you guys." Palmer nodded and said "Yeah, we'd like that. One question though. Anyway we could bring the droids with us?" "Sure thing. We could use them to carry anything important you guys have here." I said. "Sure thing. Barlax, start getting ready to bug out." 20 minutes later, we were on our way back to the cruiser. When we arrived we got Redeye to the medical bay, and the rest of the group made their introductions. After introductions, I asked the Palmer, Spade, Stull, and Barqs to join me in the bridge. "Now Sergeant, what exactly where you and Barlax doing on this system." I asked.

Palmer removed his helmet and said "Word came from the Fleet Commander that we needed a remote resupply station in the outer rim if we were going to win the war out here. Our battalion commander offered my platoon to spearhead the mission, which we gladly accepted since it had been a few weeks since we had seen combat. I took twenty of my platoon, along with two ordinance guys, and two pilots on a shuttle. We were transported here by a Cruiser, and as we launched from the cruiser, a CIS fleet came out of hyperspace and decimated the cruiser. They didn't even stand a chance against them. Rather than risk getting blown out of the sky with the cruiser, we continued with our operation. We reached the system's inner atmosphere before a pack of vulture droids knocked us out of the sky. During the crash I lost ten of my men, and one of the ordinance men. We attempted to radio back to the fleet but we only got a partial message out. They attempted a rescue mission but they were chased away by that fleet. I personally got a message from the Fleet Commander pretty much saying 'Sorry, you guys are just gonna have to hold out until I get some extra time'. That message was a year ago. Since then I've lost five men to battle droids, two to creatures on hunting trips, one to starvation, and one went missing and is presumed dead. Barlax and I are the only two left."

I removed my helmet as well. "A fleet huh? We had a similar experience. We were going to rejoin our fleet on our way back from the line for replacements and medical treatment. We were sucked out of hyperspace somehow and decimated. The Cruisers captain was able to get the ship to crash land on the system. A good portion of Barqs platoon and I here escaped the initial crash in a gunship. I lost a few men when our gunship crashed, which we buried at the site of the wreckage. We then worked our way down to the cruiser, where we found Spade, Stull, and Vargas in the medical bay. I figured either a droid battalion, or the republic would come looking around the wreckage so I decided that it would be the best place to hold up. But since then, it's becoming more and more evident that we'll be here for a lot longer than planned."


	11. Chapter 11: Planning

**Barqs POV:**

"Well, what's the plan now? Just hold out here until somebody comes looking for us?" I asked, looking over at Captain Smith. "For now, yes. We need to make a more permanent shelter." Stull spoke up "Well if we can always build something? I mean we've got the tools, and once Redeye gets better, I'm sure he could help us out a lot." Smith stood up and looked at us and said "It's not like we have much of a choice in the matter. For now, everyone's going to relocate to one of the less damaged barracks rooms here in the cruiser, instead of cramming into the walker again. We'll assign the battle droids to do security, and rotate one trooper for over watch from one central location. In the morning, we'll start on working on the new shelter. Now let's go to chow."

The next morning, I went up and got Greene to bring him to chow. During our morning briefing, Smith laid out our plans to the rest of the group. "Alright, now that we've got a few more here with us, we're going to have to make a more permanent shelter. Any suggestions you guys might have can go a long way." Dogbreath spoke up and said "Well, we could cut down some trees, then build something from scratch, or use the cruiser itself." "Hey Captain? You guys eating chow without me?" We all stopped and turned towards the blast door. Standing in the door was Redeye, holding his arm. "Redeye!?" We all said in shock "Your alive, you son of a bitch!" Hanis jumped up, and hurried over to Redeye. "What happened? All I remember is us coming under attack on the cruiser. Did we make it out? Also I thought we were getting reinforced by the 182nd Attack Battalion, not the 2nd Recon Battalion." When he said that, we all looked at each other, then to Captain Smith. He stammered a little saying "Uhhh…Well I don't know how to say this, but we sustained a little bit of damage when we came under attack and had to erm…land on this system." Redeye laughed and asked "We got shot down didn't we?" "Yeah, and this is Sergeant Palmer of 2nd Recon. He and Trooper Barlax found you and the rest of the engineers in an escape pod, and took care of you until we found them." Smith said, as Hanis helped him over to a chair.

"Well Cap, I heard most of the plan. I assume by what I've heard so far that we're marooned here with no communications with the fleet. Also I assume the two platoons of battle droids outside are on our side?" Redeye Said. "Perceptive as always I see. Think we can pull it off?" Smith asked. Redeye nodded and said "I'm sure we can pull it off with what we have on hand. Though I may not be of much help for a little while." Everyone laughed, then smith said "Alright, Let's get to work. Redeye, come and join Stull, Spade, Barqs, and Palmer up in the bridge, once you feel up to it." He nodded, and we departed the mess hall. About fifteen minutes later, Redeye joined us on the bridge. "Alright now that Redeye's here, we can get started." I said, then smith continued "Right, now redeye here's what we've got on hand. We have a good majority of scrap from the cruiser we can use, as well as trees all over the place that we could use for structural supports. What I was thinking was creating a structure and have it attached to the side hangar door. We can use the side hangar as the main room, which we can further divide if we want to, and use the outside structure as a guard post. What do you think of that?"

Redeye thought a moment before speaking "It could work, but I have a few questions. Has the whole ship been searched for useful equipment or supplies? Also, how do we plan on fortifying the interior of the ship? I assume we won't be using the entire thing as a shelter." I spoke up "As far as searching the ship, we have searched the majority of the bow. The mid ship cargo bay still has supplies as well as the mess storage, the west armory, the rear cargo bay. We haven't searched thru most of the stern of the cruiser, due to when we searched it, the engines where still unstable. My plan was to move all the useable cargo and supplies to the mid ship cargo bay seeing as it is closest to where we've been staying and operating." Stull spoke up and said "Well I can get that West armory cleared out within an hour or so, just need a few crates." Smith looked over to him and said "Go ahead and grab Eddie, and move everything to the East armory." Stull nodded and headed out of the bridge. Spade stood up and said "I'll grab Dogbreath, Barlax, Greene, and Snoops down to the stern and start tossing the ship." Smith gave him the go ahead, and he departed the bridge as well. I looked over to Smith and Palmer and said "Well, Palmer, Vargus, Hanis, and I can go work on getting the supplies into the mid ship cargo bay." Smith nodded and we departed the bridge.


	12. Chapter 12: Settling In

**Snoops POV**

It's been two months since we landed here. It's not too bad, I mean it sucks that the republic has abandoned us to die here. But we are expendable after all, and it's not like there was anyone important on our cruiser. We've started going on hunting trips in Palmer's secret spots. Vargas has started working on some "Top Secret Medical Project" with the medical droid, and Redeye seems to be getting along well with the mechanic droid. Ha, that's something I thought I would never say, 'Clones working with Battle Droids'. Ah who cares, the only thing holding us to the war anymore is our armor, and those droids. We still use our ranks as a formality, but it's seeming more and more like we're civilians now. Dogbreath likes to make fun of how relaxed I've become compared to how uptight I was when we first landed here.

"Hey Snoops!" I come out of my daze and turn around to see Barlax approaching me. "Yeah, whatcha need Barlax?" I asked "Well, Greene and Palmer are on their way back from their hunting trip and they bagged a ketrann!" I hopped up "Really!? Awesome! We'll be eating good for weeks!" We both laughed and started back towards the hatch into the ship. We've come a long way since we landed here. We've built the majority of our new outpost, we've started to grow crops, and we are working on repairing the long range coms systems. Redeye and Sparky have been able to take the generators from the old droid base to power our own. Most of the systems that we need for day to day life have been repaired. Green's been working with Redeye to see if we can get one of the speeder bikes to work again. He hopes to use it on his hunting trips instead of having to walk everywhere. We divided the row of officers' quarters closest the mess hall into our new bunk rooms. Smith had his own room, then the rest of us where paired up and split a room. I was paired with Vargas, which I already know is a thousand times better than bunking with Dogbreath.

About a month ago, we finally got into the last supply room in the stern of the ship. In the process of tossing it for supplies, we located a couple of containers of Phase II armor. When we informed Smith of the find, he gave us the go ahead to change to the Phase II armor if we wished. The majority of us chose to do so, since the Phase II armor was much more comfortable to wear. All of the NCO's painted their ranks onto their arms as sort of a reminder of where we came from. Surprisingly the Lieutenants, Barlax, and Redeye chose to keep the Phase I armor, but used the opportunity to personalize their armor a little more. "Hey Snoops! Check it out!" I turned my head to see green standing next to his game and shaking his rifle above his head. "As sharp a shooter as ever." I laughed as Balax and I climbed down the ladder to the ground below. "Where'd you snag him?" I asked as we approached. By now, Dogbreath, Eddie and the others where all approaching as well. "Down in the gorge about 2 clicks from here." Green said, leaning up against the body of the animal. "But more importantly, there was a huge storm on my tail the whole way back, and it should be getting here within the hour. We should probably get everything inside and bunker down."

Like Greene had said, a huge storm rolled in about fourty minutes later. By then we had mostly everything bunkered down. When we first landed here, this system reminded me a lot of Endor, except with a few more rain storms. Turns out we got here during the dry season, and now we're apparently in the wet season. Once a storm rolls in, it can pour for a week straight. We've already lost a good portion of the remaining equipment and supplies in the bow of the cruiser to water damage, but we sealed off everything past the main cargo bay. Palmer insisted the water can go much higher than that in this area, because the water will flow over a natural dam a few clicks past the droid outpost. We lost the walker in the water, so we're down to only two working vehicles at this point. Also a good portion of the droids are starting to rust because of all the rain.

At evening chow, smith spoke up and said "We're not going to have an exterior guard during this storm, I'm afraid we'll lose the droids in the flood waters or winds. Instead, we're going to post them on the interior of the ship at all the openings and holes in the hull. They'll act double duty as Security and Damage Control. Sound good to everyone?" we all nodded in agreement. "Well Good. Also Greene, good catch today! I'm sure that ketrann will keep us fed for the next month. Now moving onto other matters, Vargas. I believe you had something to tell the group." He said handing the floor over to Vargas. "Thank you Captain. Now the medic droid and I have been working on something that may change all our life's!" Dogbreath then jokingly asked "A way off this rock?" which gave us a good laugh.

Vargas then continued without missing a beat "No, we're still working on that. I'm talking about medically change our life. We think we've found a way to slow down our ageing process. Now I figure it won't do us much good here, but since we're all but dead to the republic anyway, I figure it will help us when we finally get out of here and onto a civilized world." We all looked at him like he was insane and Eddie said "Well if we use that, we would be just extending the amount of time we have to be stuck on this rock." Smith read the room and stood up to say "Alright that's enough of that. Yes, you bring up a fair point Eddie, but this isn't an order im giving. What Vargas needs is one volunteer. If the trial is successful, then I would encourage you all to it, but I wouldn't be forcing you. If it's a failure however, we don't know what will happen, and you could very well die because of it. Knowing this, would anyone like to volunteer?" I looked from him, to the rest of the group. Their faces saying exactly the same thing-"You've got to be as crazy as he is." I sighed and rose my hand "Since none of you are willing, I'll do it. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? I get off this seaside resort a few months earlier?" I chuckled, getting a few laughs from the guys. "Well doc, lets get started."


	13. Chapter 13: Death Knows No Holiday

A/N: This chapter is set up differently, as it features two POV's.

 **(Eddie's POV)**

Well it's been about a month since Snoops volunteered for Vargas's test, and everything seems to be going fine with him. But since he's been laid up in sickbay all month, I'm the lucky guy who gets to take over all of Snoop's responsibilities. I have no idea how he can enjoy doing all these jobs. Like seriously, who likes inventorying the cruiser's food supplies. Or checking the exterior blast doors for leaks during rain storms. Seriously I'm going to go insane if I have to keep this up! "Hey Eddie, having fun yet?" I turn around to see Dogbreath and Greene at the door trying to keep from laughing. "Oh tons and tons of fun" I said, chuckling a can of soup at them "You know, you guys are more than welcome to come help!" I said turning back to the shelf in front of me. Judging by the silence that followed, I assumed that it was a no on the help. "Hell of a way to spend Republic Day" I muttered under my breath

I continued counting the cans for what seemed like ages, when I heard something I haven't heard since we first came under attack, the All Hands Battle Stations PA Announcement. It took me a minute to realize it, but I grabbed my helmet and tried to get ahold of Smith. "Smith!? Smith!? Do you copy? Does anyone copy!?" After a few seconds I heard Barlax screaming into his comlink "OH SHIT THERE EVERYWHERE! HELP!" Realizing that this wasn't just a random thing, I ran down to the nearest armory, where I met up with Spade, Hanis, Greene, and Smith. "Alright load up on everything you can, I don't know what we're up against. Eddie good you're here, grab the Z-6 and follow us!" Smith said as everyone finished gearing up. I ran over and grabbed the chain gun and followed them down the hall. As we were approaching the area where the shots where ringing out, we were receiving intermittent Intel from Barlax, Redeye, and Dogbreath. From what we were piecing together, the Droids sent a commando scout squad to see if we were really dead.

We reached the hallway leading to the main hangar where they were. "It's been a while since we have been in combat, but Im sure we could handle a few clankers…." I believe those where the last words I heard Hanis say as the blast door opened. He was the first to get hit, just seconds after the door opened. When He got hit, Smith quickly dragged him back and called for Vargas to come get him. After that, we moved in and met up with Dogbreath, and Barlax. "Sir, I've already jammed their comms, so they have no way of transmitting back to their control ship. I suggest after we wipe the floor with them, we use one of the captured droids to send the all clear signal." Redeye said over the comlink from across the hangar. "Sounds like a plan, now lets make this quick." Smith said, and we all started taking our shots.

The next to fall was Spade. He was running up to flank the droids, when the squad's commander cut him down with his blade. He stood no chance of surviving that blow. Seeing that made me even angrier, seeing how the Lieutenant wasn't even a ground trooper. He was supposed to spend his life serving as a Naval Officer, not fighting the ground war with us. After seeing him get hit, I stood up and took my shots. I personally mowed down 5 of the droids before getting hit myself. Despite getting a chunk of my arm taken out, I continued to fire. Killing the squad leader. After all the droids where down, I dropped the Z-6 and turned to the group behind me.

 **(Smith's POV)**

I watched in awe as Eddie stood up and mowed down five of the droids. I watched as he was hit, and still continued to fire. After all the droids where down, he dropped his weapon and turned around to face us. His last words are burned into my brain "Son of a Bitch, Captain. I am NEVER going to do Dogbreath's job aga-." He stopped mid-sentence and fell to his knees, the squad leader's blade sticking out of his back. The rest of us opened fire on the droid, blasting it to kingdom come. By the end of the battle we had lost Lieutenant Spade, Clone Pilot Hanis, and Clone Trooper Eddie. Dogbreath, Barlax, and Greene where also injured during the battle.

After bringing the wounded and dead to Vargas, I brought Stull, Barqs, and Palmer back to the hangar. "Gentlemen, we cant have this happen again. We have to move away from the Cruiser. Palmer, do you think we can set up a temporary shop in your old base?" I ask, to which Palmer nodded "Arlight good. Now Stull, I'm promoting you to second in command. Think you can handle it?" To which Stull replied "Of course sir." "Good." I said "Now have graves dug for Spade, Hanis, and Eddie. Barqs, Palmer. Start prepping to bug out. Make sure we leave nothing useful behind." With a collective "Yes sir" we went our separate ways. _"Hell of a way to spend Republic Day"_


End file.
